Journeys Through the Well
by Fayr
Summary: This is a Ranma 1/2 and Inu-Yasha crossover. *Updated Chapter 2* After having just fought each other, Ranma and Inu-Yasha must now work together, along with Akane, to defeat the demon, Jusenkyo.
1. Default Chapter

This is a crossover of Ranma ½ and Inu-Yasha.I may continue it depending on the number of reviews I get.

Anyways, it is supposed to continue after Ranma, manga volume 38 and Inu-Yasha, manga volume 6, after they defeat Kikyo and before they meet Miroku.

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and Inu-Yasha belong to Takahashi Rumiko, so don't sue me, please.I need to go to college.

Journeys Through the Well 

The early morning rays played with the tresses of Kasumi's hair as she began setting the table; her small, delicate hands moved quickly, yet gracefully, and her soft humming only added a lyrical tranquility to this moment of time.Only the small clinks of the dishes disturbed this pocket of peace before the day commenced.

"RANMA NO BAKA!"

With those words, the soft spell woven by the eldest Tendo daughter was broken and the day began in earnest.

"Geez, Akane!It wasn't my fault!"

VROOM!A red and black blur ran across the entrance of the main room and on into the courtyard.Blue-eyed, black-haired Ranma Saotome, practitioner of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu and considered the best martial artist in Nerima, ran like a pack of hungry wild cats were after him.

"You can't use that line on me, Ranma!I caught you red-handed!"

VOOSH!A blue and yellow blur raced across the same entrance.Sporting short blue-black hair, brown eyes, and a massive hammer, Akane Tendo looked ready to murder.Or just pound the brains out of a certain pig-tailed martial artist.

"Make sure he can come back in time for breakfast!Don't hurt him too much, Akane!"Kasumi waved cheerfully to the departing teenagers."Oh my.I'll have to save some breakfast or Saotome –san may eat it all."Humming cheerfully, the girl went back to creating the fragile air of peace with her simple chores.

Sneaking furtively from shadow to shadow, the boy gradually made his way across the street to the Shinto shrine.Hiding behind a tree, he searched quickly for any sign of his pursuers, then seeing nothing but a twittering bird, he quickly rushed up the stairs and leapt through the entrance to sanctuary.

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his brow.Looking back out at the empty street, he muttered, "Man, what a pain.Why do I always have to deal with those idiots every morning?"Rubbing his head he turned back to stare at the shrine."Akane didn't have to chase me like that.She didn't even give me a chance to explai—huh?"

A soft scratch had caught his attention.He immediately tensed his muscles and looked around."Hello?Anyone here? . . ."His eyes roamed the courtyard and he muttered, "Where's the priest?"

Again the soft scratching came and Ranma dropped into a defensive stance.He waited a moment and concentrated on the one who had made the noise.It was making the fine hairs at the nape of his neck stand, and he knew of only three things which would make him react that way: Happosai, danger, and cats.He was seriously hoping it was a human challenge.The lecherous goat, Happosai, was more welcome than a c-c-c--. . . .A small grunt escaped his lips as the scratching came closer.He narrowed his eyes to search the shadows.Perspiration began to form on his brow as he finally located the aura of the scratcher and his trembling hands clenched into fists when he realized how small the aura felt.He clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to calm himself.So engrossed he was in battling his internal demon, he didn't even register the footsteps of the person behind him until it was too late.

"_There_ you are!"

"Ah!"Ranma spun

Akane gasped, staring at the fist quivering an inch from her face.

Ranma drew in deep breaths trying to stop his shivering and still his pounding heart.His breathing harsh in his ears, Ranma clenched his fist even tighter as guilt slowly seeped in, and he took in a shuddering breath, berating himself for allowing _her_ of all people to catch him like this.

Meanwhile Akane just stared at his face.At the slightly damp forehead, the guarded, wary eyes, and the muscles working in his jaw.Finally, raising her hands, she gently placed them on his fist and lowered it."It's okay, Ranma.There's nothing here but you and me."

The pig-tailed martial-artist slowly lowered his eyes, relaxing his stance slightly, but catching sight of their joined hands, he blushed and backed away quickly.Looking up into Akane's chocolate brown eyes, Ranma found disappointment with a sort of resignation.Lowering his eyes again and placing one hand behind his head, he stuttered, "A-Akane?I'm . . . I'm . . ."

"So what's your excuse this time Ran-ma?How can you be afraid of a little kitty-cat?"

"N-nani?!"Ranma flushed, 'Why that kawaiikune . . .'"What are you talking about?!"

"You heard me," Akane had her hands on her hips and a slight smirk on her lips.'Don't turn around, Ranma.'

"Hey!I thought we went through this already!It's not like I _asked _oyaji to throw me into that pit, omae kawaiikune otemba!"

"Nani?!Resorting to insults now?Omae hentai!Baka!_Hentai_ baka!_Baka_ hentai!"

"Oh, who's resorting to insults, flat-chested, macho onna!

"Grrrrrr!What did you just say?!"

"You heard me," Ranma was incensed.What was wrong now!"Not only are you built like a stick, you have no fashion sense either!"He finished by waving his hand, indicating Akane's dark blue blouse and yellow dress.

"Ooo!That does it!RANMA NO BAKA!"The blue-haired girl buried her fist into Ranma's face with enough force to send him over the shrine on to the other side.She hmphed, then glared at the cat sitting on the steps a few feet from where Ranma had been standing."This is all _your _fault, you know."

The cat only yawned in response.It stretched and began to walk around the house.

"Ah!" Akane started after the large cat."Matte!Don't go back there!Matte, you stupid cat!"

She sprinted around the main shrine, but skidded to a halt and looked around as soon as she had cleared the corner."Where'd it go?" she whispered, "Ranma?"She took a few steps into the back courtyard.It was fairly large with a well tended lawn and a large go-shinboku, "god-tree," dominating a path which led to a leafy forest.She saw a large, respectful house a distance away from the main building, and correctly assumed that it was the home of the priest who tended the shrine.Seeing a path which led past the go-shinboku, Akane quickly ran along trying to find her pig-tailed martial artist before the cat did.

She caught a glimpse of the cat's tail as it went around a bend in the path.Turning the corner, the blue-haired teen suddenly came upon a smaller shrine.The morning sun cast cheery speckles on and around the small building, but to Akane, none of the beams seemed to touch the minishrine, or more like, the golden rays were tugged and sucked right into the cracks and fissures of the wood, casting a shadow which radiated out into the surrounding area.Added to the look of abandoned, menacing building, was the profusion of forest foliage, and the small shrine looked almost alive.Akane hesitated.

"Mrow," the cat scratched at the door of the minishrine.Hearing a soft thump from inside, Akane ignored her feeling of dread and hurried to the door to shoo the cat away.

"Go away, you dumb cat!" she whispered fiercely.She dared not shout, lest she woke a slumbering spirit.But the impudent cat stretched lazily, then walked away slowly with its chin and tail up.The blue-haired teenager sighed exasperatedly.She sniffed, "Careful kitty, or you might find yourself at the wrong end of my foot."

It just stared at her over its shoulder, meowed and continued its leisurely stroll.

Akane let out a pent-up breath, "Oh, I _give _up!You're just like Shampoo.Now I know how she gets her snotty attitude."She gave an unlady-like snort and slammed the door of the mini-shrine open forgetting for a moment the feeling of forboding she'd had earlier, "RANMA!"She took a few steps into the gloom and let her eues adjust."Ranma," she called out more softly, "Ranma, where are you?"

Akane stared at the well, which stood at the bottom of the steps.She held a clenched fist to her chest in sudden fear.There was something . . . about the well."R-Ranma?Is that you?"She took a careful step forward and tried to peer into the gloom."Ranma."

Her heart was pounding and the air seemed stifled, pressing on her chest . . . or, more like the air was being _pulled_ from her lungs, which forced her to pant slightly.There was definitely something about that well, or something inside it.

"Ranma?" she called again, "Ranma, if that's you, please answer me."She stopped at the top of the stairs, refusing to go any further."Ranma! If you don't come out right now, I'll leave.And I _won't_ chase the cat away this time either!"

"C-c-c-c-caaaaaaaattttttt!AHHHHHHHH!"The shout had come from behind her.Ranma had found the cat after all.

"Nani?!"Akane spun around only to face the terrified and startled blue of Ranma's eyes."Ranm—Eeeyaaa!"

The force of the collision sent both teenagers flying over the stairs and directly into the well.After the last echoes of their screams had faded away, only a startled cat was left to listen to the heavy silence.

"Mrow?"

"Oof!"

"Ah!"

"A-Akane, ged offa me.You're kinda heavy."

WHAM!"Baka!"

"Itai. . . ."

"You are such a _jerk!_"

"Just statin' the truth, y'know!"

"BAKA!"WHAM!

"Itai. . . ."

Akane got up and crossed her arms, "I can't _believe _you!"she looked up, took one leap and was out of the well.Ranma rubbed the back of his head, "Man, what an uncute tomboy."

"Ranma!"

"Gack!I didn't do it this time, I swear!"

"Omae baka!Get up here!There's something wrong!"

"Nani?!" Respondingto the nervousness in his iinazuke's voice, the teenage martial artist leapt out of the well and landed in a defensive crouch, expecting a horde of weirdos.Or worse, a new fiancée.

"Eh?" His face slowly changed from a scowl to slack-jawed confusement, "Akane, there's no one here."

"I know that!That's not the point!"

"It's not?Then, ahh . . . what? . . ."

"Baka!There's nothing here," Akane waved her arms, "Where's the shrine?"

"Huh," Ranma took a good look around, "Where'd all the trees come from?"

They were surrounded by large trees and dense forest shrubbery.The morning sun shone weakly through the leafy canopy as the chirps and scratchings of woodland creatures reached the Japanese pair.No trace of the shrine which had had Akane so unnerved could be found on the hard forest floor, no faint trace of smog and city could be smelt, and no trace of steel buildings or concrete houses could be seen.It was just the twittering and whispers of a giant forest.

"I-I don't know.I don't remember this many trees.Or maybe . . . I don't know . . ."

"What?"

"Maybe there were a lot of trees.Maybe I was just too busy concentrating on the cat."

Ranma twitched.He turned to his blue-haired iinazuke, "Akane."

The seriousness of his expression and tone had said iinazuke staring at him expectantly and wringing her hands nervously."H-hai?"

"Don't say that word," Ranma gave a small shudder.

Akane's face slackened in shock, then she began to tremble.Her voice shook as she spoke, "We're in the middle of some strange forest, and all you can say is that!" She barely restrained herself from hitting him again.She'd been all ready to listen to any theory he'd had, that jerk!

"What the heck am I s'pposed t'say?Gee Akane, why don't we jump back into the well?We might find the shrine again, hmm?"

"Something like that, yes!Here I was, all ready to take you seriously, and you blow it like every other time!"

Ranma paused for a moment.But then picked up steam again, "And what makes you think I wasn't being serious, huh?I still don't want people to say c-c-c . . . that word!"

"That wasn't what I meant!Ooo, I give up!"The blue-haired martial artist stormed off, "I'll find my own way out!And don't you _dare_ follow me!"

Ranma stared at his iinazuke's retreating back, then he glared at her, "Fine!See if I care.Kawaiikune otemba," he muttered.

A block of wood came flying at his face, "BAKA!" the kawaiikune otemba exclaimed.

After removing the block, he huffed, "Don't come crying to me, when you run into a pack of wolves."But he hadn't taken a few steps before, cursing silently, he turned back in the direction of his iinazuke and started walking.

The demon stared after the departing couple, its eyes glowing from under the thick brush.It flicked its scaly tongue a few times.Yes.The scent was definitely there._Its _scent.The one unique smell that was only its, hanging all over the boy.The demon flicked its tongue again.How could the boy have contracted the curse?The demon certainly didn't remember him.

It looked in the opposite direction.The shikon shard.It was getting further.The demon turned back to the humans.It mentally shrugged.The priestess who carried the shard eventually came back here anyway.It had to find out how a human could steal its scent without its knowledge.

It was towards mid-morning that Akane caught sight of the village.Her breath caught in surprise and she just stared dumbly at the extremely old-fashioned houses.It looked like a quaint village right out of the history books.Straw fences, flatboard roofing, and wooden walls insulated with mud and grass.She could see holes in the roofs where the smoke from the cookfires could escape.Many people were scattered about doing several chores.Several men were building a new house, while a woman weaved a basket with dried grass, and farther outside the village, many men and women worked on paddies of rice.Children ran all over laughing and playing, or helping their parents with chores.Akane was breathless.When she'd seen the smoke, she'd been expecting campers or maybe her friend, Ryoga, but this . . . wasn't what she'd even began to picture.She finally shrugged, turned back to the forest, and crossed her arms."Alright, Ranma, come out."

The pig-tailed youth landed lightly from where he'd been hiding in the trees.'Boy, her senses sure have gotten better,' he thought absently."I wasn't following you or nuthin', got it?I just saw the smoke. . . ."

"Sure, whatever," his blue-haired iinazuke dismissed him by turning back to the village, "So, what do you think we should do now?"Her brown eyes suddenly softened as she turned back to him, "Thanks, Ranma."

"Uh . . ." Ranma's mind suddenly blanked.He _hated_ when she looked at him like that.He didn't know how to respond, his tongue felt strangely twisted in his mouth and his stomach felt like it had sprouted wings and was flapping incessantly.His mouth was so dry he could hardly swallow.Even then he would have had a hard time seeing as his throat seemed to have closed up on him, making swallowing an impossibility and breathing an effort.It made him feel . . . Weak. . . .So he settled for a noncommitive grunt, scowling at himself.

Akane had noticed the subtle shift in Ranma's mood.It had gone from defensive to confused to angry.Not positive what the real reason was, but suspecting it was herself, she lowered her eyes and went back to watching the village, keeping her face carefully away from Ranma.

After a moment, Ranma finally replied, "Why don't we just go down there and ask where we are?"

"Sure."

"And why no—"

Ranma blinked in surprise.He hadn't expected Akane to agree so readily, and so had had a retort ready.

He quickly followed the short-haired girl when he saw she was leaving him behind and walked silently by her side, each becoming lost in his and her own thought.Finally Ranma spoke, "So, um, d'you have any idea where they say we'll be?I don't remember a forest this large in the Nerima district."

"I don't know, but I do know we are still in Japan."

"Yeah, but _where?_"

"Who knows?With you around, anything becomes possible."

"Hey!What's that supposed t'mean?!"

The girl gave her iinazuke a "look."

"Well, okay, you have a point," he conceded."But it ain't all my fault."

"Whatever."

"But it's—"

HYUNG!HYUNG!Chuk!Chnk!

Two arrows struck the grounds before their feet or would have been before their feet if they hadn't leapt back three feet.

"Who goes there?!"

Ranma and Akane responded by pulling their defensive postures in even closer and stretching their senses out further.They heard the stretch of two more arrows being nocked.

"Answer ye, our question or leave!"

"We are unarmed," Ranma yelled back."I'm Saotome Ranma and that's Akane."

"Be ye human or demon?"

"Nani?" Akane exclaimed, "What kind of stupid question is that?Of course we're human!"

"Then what business do ye have here?"

"We just want to ask you some questions," Akane yelled back.

"We're lost," Ranma explained quickly, "We want to know where we are."

The two teens heard a whispered conversation, then a person approached them cautiously.He was young, perhaps a few years older than the teens.He wore a rough yukata and carried a long, slim bow in one hand, while a quiver full of arrows peeked from behind his shoulder.In the other hand he held an arrow which apparently had been recently nocked.His apparent weapons, his expression, his very stance showed his suspicion of the two teens.He stopped quite a distance away in front of the two and inspected them.

"Ye be not demons, but what manner of garbs is this?T'would not be any peasant's garb, aye?What manner of people wouldst thou be?"

"He sounds like Kuno, doesn't he, Ranma?" Akane said softly to Ranma.

"Yeah," he agreed, "D'you think Kuno lived here at one time?"Out loud he called back, "Everyone wears clothes like this where we're from," he shrugged, "We're just martial artists and a little lost.We were wonderin' if you could tell us where we were?And how do we get back to Nerima."

"T'would be Mushashi's domain you are in.Unfortunate it is, but I know not about this Nerima you speak of.Mayhaps the Lady Priestess Kaede may help ye.Mayhaps not.But ye shall come to harm if ye should deceive this village.We are simple folk, aye, but we have teeth."Ranma and Akane looked at the bow and arrows and nodded. The man turned and walked briskly down the path.

Ranma looked at Akane, then shrugged and followed the stranger down the dirt path.

They were causing quite a sensation.Women stopped their chores to openly stare.Children in rough and homemade, but clean, yukatas lined up along the road to get a look at the strangers in their even stranger clothing, only to be shooed off by a nearby female, or scooped up and deposited into a house with stern instructions not to come out until allowed to do so.Men stopped to glare briefly, looking at the clothing, and muttered about kitsunes.But throughout all this commotion, Ranma and Akane's guide strided purposefully forward, sparing nary a glance to the sides.

"Eek!" Akane had been looking around nervously, especially towards the people who were glaring, so when she felt the tug on her skirt, she had been quite startled.She spun and saw a little girl dance out of reach quickly, giggling behind her small hand.

"Hee, hee.You're funny," the girl trotted back and stared up at blue-haired girl, "You're just like Kagome-sama."Her dark hair, pulled back accentuated her large childishly blue eyes as she continued to study Akane."Did you come through the well too?"

'What?'Akane crouched down and stared the girl straight in the eye.She spoke slowly as if afraid she would scare the little girl off if she spoke too fast."How did you know about the well?"

The girl put a finger to her chin and looked as if she was deeply lost in thought, "Mmm."Finally, smiling mischievously she replied, "Can't tell you.I haveta ask Kaede-sama first."She then tilted her head and studied Akane some more, "But I think it's okay to tell you.You look nice."

Akane smiled, "Thank-you."

"'Welcome.Now follow me!"

"Ah!Matte!"Akane looked back over her shoulder and spotting a large crowd huddled around one of the larger homes in the village, she concluded that that was where Ranma had gone.Taking one last look around, and noticing that many of the villagers were paying little or no attention to her, she took off after the bright-eyed girl.

"Hey, wait!What's your name?"

"Maya!"

Ranma stepped inside the doorway after taking his slippers off.He paused a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dimness of the room and to sense if there was any kind of trap.Not feeling his danger sense go off, he walked further into the simple, wooden building.A small hearth sat in the middle of the room with a fire blazing happily and a small pot held high over the flames.The pig-tailed youth sensed more then he saw the old woman who tended to the pot.

He stopped a few feet back, getting a feel for the old woman as the guide spoke to her in soft tones.Although her hair was a pure snow white, her callused hands did not shake as they crumbled herbs and dropped them into the pot.He could feel her ki radiating off her in waves, but even through the large spiritual energy, Ranma sensed a quiet dignity which spoke volumes about her wisdom, and demanded respect.A wisdom, Ranma somehow knew, that had been gained through life's relentless blows and unexpected losses, but with an iron-hard will and courage to meet those hardships head on, then to wring every last drop of experience from those harsh lessons.A strength of spirit as great as the oceans.Ranma was almost humbled.

But he was also on his guard now.A person as strong as this didn't become so powerful for no reason.She was wise, but it wouldn't mean she was entirely trustworthy.

Shojinya bent down to whisper into Kaede's ear.

"Kaede-sama, we have visitors."

"Hmm."Kaede glanced at the tense pig-tailed youth.She sensed great spirit in the boy, but she also sensed a fighting spirit.One that could not help but draw conflict, and in drawing conflict, cause much sorrow or faster maturity.She hoped it was the latter.He seemed like a likeable young man and reminded her a bit of another.

"They be not demons, Kaede-sama?" he had meant it to come out as a statement, but Shojinya did not have the masterful acuity the priestess had for sensing demons.He had to know.

"Nay, he is not."

"They claim to be lost and be looking for a village named, 'Nerima'.Do ye know of this, Kaede-sama?"

"Nay, I do not," Kaede frowned."You speak of 'them', yet I see only one.Where is the other?"

Shojinya straightened and looked back at the doorway.

"Nani?Where is Saotome-san?Saotome-kun, where is your wife?!"

Kaede saw the boy's eyes go big as he slightly choked out, "M-m-my what?!"He whipped his head around, eyes wide and round."You got it all wrong!"

"Where is Saotome-san?" An edge of dangerousness entered Shojinya's voice.If these were spies, sent in. . . .

"What?Akane?"Ranma whipped his head around again."Akane!Where is she?"

"That is what we would like to know, Saotome-kun."Kaede looked at him levelly from her perch on the ground.He really did look confused, but then spies had to be perfect actors.She couldn't be sure. She just couldn't read his ki that well.

"Saotome-kun, why don't you stay here, while we find your wife?" Kaede suggested mildly.

"Look, she's not my wife!" Ranma protested, "But I'm not sittin' here, waiting!I'm gonna go with you!"

Shojinya glared at Ranma, "We be not giving ye a choice!Do as Kaede-sama says!"

Ranma narrowed his eyes, "Are you gonna make me?"

Shojinya glared even more, "If it be so."

"_Shojinya!_" The rebuke was mild, but coming from such dignified, such a respected personage as Kaede, it was ten times worse than a lecture from a parent to a guilty child.She turned to Ranma with a small sigh and said gently, but firmly, "I apologize for Motomiya-kun's remark, but," her voice lost its gentleness, "you must understand, Saotome-kun, we are only a village of farmers and on the outskirts of Musashi's domain, only we can defend ourselves."That and Inu-Yasha, she added mentally."So, I must kindly ask you to stay here, Saotome-kun."

By now, Ranma had realized, "You think I'm some sort of spy!"He was outraged.His honor had just been questioned.

But they just looked at him.

"Fine," he grumbled, "but if anything, _anything_, happens to Akane . . ."He finished by cracking his knuckles and giving a quick flash of his aura.

Shojinya gasped and took a quick step back, while Kaede looked at the martial artist calmly.

Even though every one of her danger sense had just gone off.

Inu-Yasha looked up from his perch on Kagome's bike, then suddenly leapt off and bounded back the way they'd come.

"Wha—" Kagome looked over her shoulders, "Inu-Yasha!Where do you think you're going!"

"There's something . . . by the well!"

"What?Hey, wait!Wait!What do you mean?!Hey!Arggghhhh!Stupid jerk!"

Kagome turned her bike a hundred eighty degrees and pedaled after the half-yokai.

"Wonder what's gotten into him?" Shippo said from his perch on Kagome's shoulder.

"I don't know, the stupid jerk!"

When she finally reached the clearing where the well stood, Kagome found Inu-Yasha sniffing along the edges of the same well.

"Inu-Yasha, what—"

"Humans, Kagome.Two of them.They came from the well.And Kagome, there's a demon nearby."

Weeeeeeeellllllllll!Whaddya think?Good?Bad?So-so?Constructive criticism much needed.Editor needed even more, but I'll settle for good, _good_, criticism.Flames are understandable as there are juveniles out there and they can't express themselves any other way, but nice, _nice_, as in _constructive_ criticisms are very welcome!Thank-You!

Oh Yeah!I also happen to be a person who _thinks_ she can speak Japanese, but I can't.So I'm asking somebody, _anybody_, if Shojinya really means "devoted arrow"?


	2. Martial Arts and Demon Powers

This is a crossover of Ranma ½ and Inu-Yasha.

Anyways, it is supposed to continue after Ranma, manga volume 38 and Inu-Yasha, manga volume 6, after they defeat Kikyo and before they meet Miroku.Just a little warning though, I don't know the _exact_ details of what happens at the end of Ranma ½, I'm only going on hearsay on that series, and I'm going to take liberties with the ending.(Please don't hurt me.)

And people, THANK-YOU for reading this!But as to why I took so long to get this chapter out . . . well, I'm an extremely _slow_ and lazy writer.Plus the fact that my sister just took our computer with her to college.AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!So I can only access a computer outside of my home.For right now anyways.But I'm also extremely busy with my courses at the university, so if I do ever post any chapters, they will be few and far between.I'M SORRY!WAAAHHHHHH!(Bow, bow.)

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and Inu-Yasha belong to Takahashi Rumiko, so don't sue me, please.I need to go to college.

Journeys Through the Well

Martial Arts and Demon Powers

Kagome looked at the tense Inu-Yasha.He had just announced the arrival of a new demon, and more disturbingly, the fact that two humans had obviously just come out of the well.But then, she supposed, this was good.Something to take Inu-Yasha's mind off their recent adventure.He'd been acting weird ever since they had returned from the ogress Urasue's place . . . and had to kill Kikyo.She glanced at Inu-Yasha again, then firmly pushed all thoughts of Inu-Yasha and Kikyo out of her head to concentrate on this new threat, if indeed it was a threat.

They were rushing through the forest at top speed, for Kagome that is, and Inu-Yasha was busy focusing all his senses on this strange new demon.The two human scents were still there, going in a straight course towards the village.So they were either travelers who had seen the smoke or they were something else; maybe specifically looking for the village, but for what reason?What was more disturbing to the ghost-haired boy, was the fact that the demon kept shifting and drifting behind the two humans, like it didn't want to be seen.And then, he had a hard time keeping track of the scent as it seemed to disappear in places and the trail was becoming even more faint now.

Inu-Yasha stopped suddenly.

KA-POW!

Kagome stopped her bike with a screech and looked back at the flattened half-demon.

"Oops.Uhhh . . . sorry about that?"

Inu-Yasha twitched once, twice, than sprang up suddenly.His aura swirled around him dangerously as he glared at the nervous girl sitting on the bike.

"H-Hey!C'mon!" Kagome waved her hand at him, screwing her face up into one of cheerfulness."I didn't do it on purpose.Honest!"

"Yeah," Shippo popped up from behind Kagome's shoulder, "What's goin' on in that empty head of yours anyways?"

"None of your business!"He gave Shippo a hard whack on the head and stalked off.

Kogome looked down sympathetically at the kitsune, "Are you alright, Shippo?"

Shippo only humphed and glared at the back of the stomping white-haired boy, promising dire vengeance later on.

"So . . . um . . . Inu-Yasha . . . um . . ."

"So just what?!You stupid girl!Spit it out!"

"Hey!" Kagome pedaled faster and papped him on the head as she went by, "I just wanted to ask you a question, you didn't have to go all postal on me!"

Rubbing his head, Inu-Yasha growled, "So what is it?"

"What happened back there?Why did you suddenly stop?"

He looked at the dark-haired girl seriously, "Kagome, I've been following the scent of that demon, but it seems like the trail is already disappearing.I don't know what to make of it."He scratched his nose."It seems like the demon is following those two humans.His path follows too closely for it to be coincidence."

"Do you think they may be just travelers that happened upon the well?"

"No.They definitely came from the well."

Inu-Yasha hopped onto the back of Kagome's bike.

"Let's just go back to the village."

Kagome shot the dog-eared boy a confused glance, but resumed pedaling. 

"Hey Inu-Yasha?"

"Hmm?"

"You mentioned that the scent was disappearing.Are you saying you can't track the scent anymore?"

"No, I can't," he paused, "But if it was following the humans, wherever they are, the demon has to be there."

Ranma looked up at the three men with pitchforks and grim expressions.

"Well . . . They didn't have to tie me up."

Ranma's hands had been tied behind him, with the rope connecting to the knots also holding his ankles together, forcing him to kneel . . . or lie down in a very stupid position.So he opted to kneel instead and just grumbled while glaring at the three villagers.They ignored him.

Through a crack in the sliding door, he could make out crowds of men and women as they passed the hut, pointing and whispering behind their hands.He thought it was strange how the people were dressed so . . . the only word he could find was old-fashioned.It was like a scene straight out of one of those history books he almost never opened.The people, the streets, even the houses.They couldn't be actors of any kind.

Ranma looked at the pitchforks again.Those looked a little too real.Plus the arrows, Shojinya and that old lady had been carrying, they had real arrowheads!None of those blunted ones used in the dojos for archery.The arrows had been meant for killing.No, this had to be real.

Again he tested the strength of the bonds and had to hide a small smirk.These people had really underestimated him!Then he frowned.That woman had acted too calm when he'd flashed his aura.Just what the heck was she?!And Akane.Who knew where that uncute tomboy had run off too.It figured she'd be the one falling into trouble.Like the Orochi at Ryugenzawa, and the time Pantyhose Taro had kidnapped her, or the time she'd eaten the super soba and had grown whiskers.He chuckled mentally at the memory of her face as she had cried almost comically on top of that pine tree.

Although, he reflected wryly, there were just as many times she had rescued _him_.Jumping into the danger he was saving her from to get _him_ out of the mess.What a stupid tomboy. . . .

"MAYA!"

The shrill voice broke through his musings and he glanced up to see one of his guards had opened the sliding door, revealing what was happening outside.

"Maya!My daughter, Maya!She's disappeared!With that blue-haired hussy of a woman!Hajime-chan saw them leave the village together!"

The villagers nearest the woman gasped.

"No. . . ."

"You can't mean. . . ."

"Yes!" the woman continued.Her wild brown eyes had dilated to the point of looking almost crazy, and her kimono opened loosely at the throat, indicating haste or hysteria."She's kidnapped her.Oh Maya!My Maya!"

The woman started to sob openly.Another village woman put her arms consolingly on the sobbing woman's shoulders, "Shh, Sayuko, it be alright.It be alright.We be just sending one o'the men after them.That blue-haired witch will pay!"

"What?!"Before the woman could pull in another breath, Ranma's blue eyes were inches from her own."What's happened?_Where's Akane?!_"

The rest of the villagers gasped.The three guards blinked.Blinked again and looked back at the spot where their prisoner was supposed to have been, and seeing only frayed rope, they went back to staring at the spectacle before them open-mouthed.The villagers had given the incredibly speedy boy and the two women a wide berth, and were now muttering among themselves.

"I knew it . . ."

". . . demon . . ."

". . . kitsune? . . ."

". . . Kaede-sama . . ."

"What could she . . ."

". . . trick, like a kitsune. . . ."

". . . has to be . . ."

Ranma frowned, and glanced around at faces quickly becoming hostile.Unfortunately the woman he'd been questioning also heard the gist of the conversations going around, and she opened and closed her mouth several times like a fish out of the water.

Until, finally, "_DEMON!_"

"_DEMON!_"

Inu-Yasha's ears twitched, picking up the distant echo of a village woman's cry.He jumped from his perch on the back of Kagome's bike and started towards the village at a faster pace.

"Huh?Hey!Inu-Yasha?!Waaaiiiitttt!"

Kagome's cry went unanswered as Inu-Yasha touched on the ground briefly and then flew off again in a large leap.In a few moments, he'd reached the village and saw a large group of men.Most of them carried pitchforks, or spears, and even some clubs and were all apparently attacking something.

Then a blur leapt out of the crowd and onto the roof of a nearby building.At this, the mob grew even uglier and began chasing the target as it leapt from one roof to another.

Inu-Yasha frowned.If this was a demon, it sure wasn't acting like most demons he'd met.I.e. it wasn't attacking and destroying the village.

But then the thing got close enough that Inu-Yasha got a whiff of it's scent.It was human.Definitely human, but, there was also the stench of that demon earlier hanging all over the human.So adding two and two together, Inu-Yasha came to the conclusion that the human must be working with the demon and was somehow going to lead the villagers into a trap.

Inu-Yasha stood up straight on the branch he'd been crouching on and leaned against the trunk.He'd let the demon show itself first, before he announced his own presence.

Ranma leapt out of the crowd and onto the nearest roof.His senses caught a hint of a powerful aura, and for a moment he thought the old lady or Akane was back, but when he tried sense it further, the crowd turned ugly, and he had to leap to another roof.He just hoped it wasn't Akane, the crowd looked ready to kill.

His mind racing as fast as his legs, Ranma couldn't help but give a little frown.The situation he was in was so unfamiliar he didn't question how he'd gotten there in the first place.But what bothered him was the fact that this felt like it was more than just another unknown place.The people here were too suspicious.Not like they were paranoid, but more like they knew there was something scary outside the village and knew they should fear it, but also knew they had to defend themselves.These people weren't crazy like most he'd already met.They seemed too real.Almost normal, if it weren't for the fact that they seemed to live in the middle of nowhere and were stuck in the feudal ages.

The pig-tailed youth let out an exasperated breath and put some extra strength into his legs.At the end of the roof he was currently running upon, he gave a slight bend of his knees and jumped up higher than any human had a right to.His target was a tree branch connected to an extremely tall tree.But just as he landed, he felt a tingle on the back of his neck as the fine hairs rose.

He quickly changed his landing so that he would spring off the branch instead.Flipping to a higher branch, he felt the wind as something sharp brushed by his cheek.He felt a sting on his cheek.When he brought his hand up instinctively, he could feel the sticky blood smear his fingers.

As soon as he had landed, the teenaged martial artist was in a defensive position and searching for his attacker.He saw the flash of ghost-white hair and eerie golden-eyes as he felt something lacerate the skin of his forearms, which he'd brought up to block an anticipated attack.Ranma sucked in a pained gasp and leapt onto an adjacent tree.He paused when he didn't feel his attacker pursue, so he looked up and finally saw a boy.

The pig-tailed martial artist blinked in surprise.The boy looked a couple of years younger than him, but the long, snow-white hair, the golden eyes, and the strange furry ears atop his head, told Ranma this was no ordinary human child.Ranma shook his head and blinked.Yep.The strange boy in a bright red kimono, which yelled "Rich!", was still there.He was also smirking too.Ranma knew he was going hate that smirk.

Then the white-haired boy spoke, "If you'll tell me the name of your master and where he is, I'll go easy on you." He finished by cracking his knuckles.

Ranma stood up straight from his defensive position and returned a smirk of his own, "Huh.I'd watch my mouth if I were you, kid."

His smile growing wider, Inu-Yasha drew his claws back ready to strike, and the blue-eyed human dropped back into his defensive position.Inu-Yasha looked his target over.The boy wore a shirt of a strange design, but it was just as bright red as his own kimono and looked like it was silk.So Inu-Yasha assumed this human was of a noble house.Probably an enemy of Musashi.He might have joined forces with that demon earlier to defeat the lord of domain.Inu-Yasha didn't mind the politics of the humans, but he didn't want a military over-running the village either, seeing as this was where the well was and Kagome would be blasted foolish enough to try to go through the samurais just to get home and back to those "tests" of hers.No, better to take care of this threat now.

He sniffed again just to make sure the young human was really a human being.Feeling the auras of other creatures was Kagome's specialty, but even Inu-Yasha could feel the waves of energy the human was giving off, and strangely he couldn't find a hint of demonic powers.But the stench of a demon was clearly being given off by the boy.Inu-Yasha frowned.Now that he was closer, he was sure.The scent wasn't just hanging all over the boy like a person wore clothes, but the boy was _giving_ off the scent.Like it was woven into his skin.

Now the ghost-haired boy was confused.The pig-tailed boy smelled like a human, but he was giving off a distinctly demonic scent.He had an abnormally large aura for any normal human, but Inu-Yasha couldn't _feel_ any hint of demonic powers.Who was this boy???

The half-demon shook his head once, dispelling all thoughts and jumped towards the human, claws extended.

Ranma almost snickered.This looked too easy.The other boy had his guard wide open, leaving Ranma any number of options.He waited a moment, then when the golden-eyed boy had gotten close enough, Ranma took one leap.He used the dog-eared boy's head as a springboard to leap to another branch, grinding down a little bit as he did so.

When he'd reached his landing spot, Ranma flipped his braid over his shoulder and looked back.

"Heh."

Inu-Yasha landed face first into the trunk of another tree with a loud smack.There was a momentary pause and then he peeled his face from the bark and turned to glare at the still smirking human.He hadn't expected the human to be that fast.

Without warning Inu-Yasha pushed off from the tree and rebounded off another branch.He saw the human lose his smile and dodged the faster than lightning strike.

"Ha-ha!Didn't expect that did you, human?"Inu-Yasha gloated.He quickly rebounded off the trunk of the tree, the pig-tailed boy had just vacated and followed, swiping the boy again and again.

Ranma dodged the strikes, barely moving out of the way fast enough.He could feel little welts and rips in his shirt where the air pressure alone was doing damage.But he managed to reply, "I wouldn't start celebrating so soon if I were you, kid."

"STOP CALLING ME 'KID'!"Inu-Yasha overthrew one of his swipes and Ranma swiftly grabbed the opportunity.He caught the hand and flipped over the half-demon, intending to drive his legs into the other's back and force him onto the ground.

"I'LL CALL YOU WHATEVER I WANT!"

But Inu-Yasha's faster than lightning reflexes proved just slightly faster than Ranma's own.The ghost-haired boy brought his elbow back and caught the side of Ranma's head.

The martial artist flew into the side of another tree with a loud crack, and he slid bonelessly down to the ground.Inu-Yasha landed softly on the leaf strewn forest floor and approached the boy cautiously.Hearing only the deep and even breathing of an unconscious person, Inu-Yasha bent down to look at the boy.

There was a sudden shooting pain in his jaw, and he could feel a punch delivered expertly to his solar plexus.Inu-Yasha staggered back slightly, blinking in surprise at the blue-eyed boy with his fist still outstretched.Then he smirked, "Feh.Is that all you've got?A _fly_ wouldn't even feel that!"

Breathing hard Ranma still managed to give a smug grin, "Are you so sure you've won?"

"Wha—" Inu-Yasha doubled over in sudden pain.He sucked in breath and glared at the human.

"That, is something I like to call the 'Katsu Tenshin Amaguriken'.Still feeling confident, kid?If you stop now, I'll walk away and pretend this didn't happen."

"Ha!When swines soar!"

"I thought that would be your answer."

With a load kiah, Ranma launched himself at the ghost-haired boy.Inu-Yasha quickly judged the shortening distance, and then launched his own attack.

"SANKON TESSOU!"

Feeling the something sharp speed towards him, Ranma jumped to the side and touched upon a tree, then he leapt over the dog-eared boy and rebouned off another trunk.He flew at Inu-Yasha with legs extended.

"What?!No way!" Inu-Yasha turned just in time to counter Ranma's charge.

Ranma threw a snap kick to Inu-Yasha's head, followed by an uppercut when Inu-Yasha had retreated.Ranma continued barraging the ghost-haired boy, knowing he would lose if he let his opponent go on the offensive.The affects of that head blow was _still _throbbing.

Inu-Yasha was now repeating what Ranma had been doing earlier.He was barely dodging the attacks of the martial artist, and worst he could feel his body slowing down.So taking a chance, he let one of Ranma's punch hit home onto the side of his head.But gritting his teeth and punching blindly, he managed to connect where he'd elbowed Ranma before.

Ranma flew again like weightless doll and landed on the ground a few meters away, skidding several more before he finally stopped.Panting heavily now, Ranma pushed himself up with his elbows as he fought the darkness edging his sight.

Finally managing to sit up and clutch his head, Ranma glared at the equally winded Inu-Yasha.

"Give up yet?"Inu-Yasha held his stomach, still wondering how Ranma had managed to damage him so badly.

"When swines (pant, pant) soar. . . ."

"Thought you'd say that.I'll make this short and sweet.Then I'll find your master,"the half-human youth pulled a rusty blade out.But when he swung it into the ground, the blade transformed dramatically and sliced up portions of the ground as a howling force raced towards Ranma.

Groaning heavily, Ranma forced his body to move.Forced the darkness back as it began to crowd his sight.He forced strength into his legs and leapt high above to grab an overhanging tree branch.Swinging around it like he was a gymnast and the branch was the uneven bars, the force of the swing flew harmlessly underneath.Then before he went into the second swing, he let go and stretched his leg out to kick the golden-eyed boy.

"How 'bout _I _make this short and sweet for _you_!"

Inu-Yasha managed to dodge the kick, but was totally unprepared for the body slam.And the attack that followed.

"KATSU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

Ranma dragged his body up and looked down at the unconscious boy.His clothes was dirtied, but still whole and his white mane of hair was wildly disarranged.But looking down at himself, Ranma realized _he_ looked far worse.His whole body was covered in lacerations, and his shirt was completely shredded.But still . . .

"Heh.Looks like I win, kid."

His danger sense suddenly went off.He heard a whistle and his tired body barely managed to catch the arrow before it plunged into his body.

"Don't move, or the next one's going through your heart!" 

Kaede picked her way carefully along the dirt path, substituting her bow for a walking stick.Shojinya followed behind just as quietly and kept himself at a respectful distance from the honored Kaede-sama.Their destination was the guards a little ways down the road.

"Kaede-sama, I am sorry."

"Eh?For what are you sorry, Shojinya?"

"Back there . . . I-I failed to check this Saotome and his wife.What if they be demons?I have loosed this threat on the village, Kaede-sama.What if . . ."

Kaede looked back at the young man.Her gaze was more questioning than anything else."And what of it?If Saotome-san had been a demon, he had a good disguise.Even I could not detect a hint of demon powers from that boy."

"Then truly, be he just human?"Shojinya looked hopeful, but Kaede couldn't give him that reassurance.She had to be blunt so the boy wouldn't get careless.

"Nay.I merely said, if Saotome-san is a demon, he has a good disguise.Of course that doesn't rule out completely that he _can_ be human."

"But . . . what of his aura?Be ye sure it was completely human?"

"Aye.Although," Kaede's face turned pensive, "his spirit is large.Almost as large as Kagome-chan's, but he can wield it much more expertly than our own priestess can. . . ."

Shojinya stopped walking and stared at Kaede's back as she continued to walk."Kaede-sama?"

"Yes?"Kaede stopped and looked back when she realized he'd stopped following.

"Even if Saotome-san be not demon, it is possible he still be a threat, aye?"

The older priestess turned and continued walking, "Yes."

Shojinya paused and mulled that bit of information over.He thought of the men he'd left behind to guard the pig-tailed youth, and finally reassured himself that they would be alright.Those men were more clear-headed than the rest of the villagers.

"Halt!Who goes—urk!"

There was the sound of a head being whapped and a whispered conversation.

"Idiot!That be Kaede-sama!"

"What?That be her?"

WHAP!"Ignorant fool!Do ye not recognize yer own priestess protecter?!"

Kaede gave a silent sigh.She stood silently as two nondescriptive men emerged from the bushes and approached her.

"Kaede-sama, what be ye doing here?Is something amiss?"

"Hmm. . . ." Kaede regarded the trees lining the road.The underbrush was thick and almost impossible to walk through without making sound.Even a demon would have a hard time getting past the special forestry in silence without a bit of struggle, for it had been carefully grown for almost two generations to keep intruders out.The path on which they stood was the only way connecting the small village with the outside world.If the young lady had been trying to come back this way, then the guards would surely have seen something.When she looked back to the nervously shifting guards, her gaze was almost sharp."Have you let any strangers by?"

"No, milady.It only be Hiroshi and I all day," the first man flicked a gaze at Shojinya, "'cepttin' those two who be with Shojinya-kun earlier."

"Are you absolutely sure, no one has passed through here?"

The two men thought for a moment and then the first spoke again, "Aye, I be sure, Kaede-sama."

"Hmm.Well you two be careful now."

"Aye, Kaede-sama!"

Kaede turned and walked back down the path towards the village.The silent Shojinya followed her, but not before glancing back sharply as the two men disappeared easily into the bushes along the road.He nodded approvingly then went to catch up with the aging priestess.

He stopped a few feet behind her and followed her sedate pace.From time to time, he would glance sharply about the shadows under the trees, his hands straying to the quiver on his back, then he would relax and went back to just scanning the forest.Kaede, meanwhile, walked calmly not sparing a look to the left nor right.Her strides were slow but purposeful.From time to time, the corner of her lips would tip up almost as if she would break out with a large smile, but it would go no further than the small curl.As Shojinya tensed once more, she turned her head a bit and asked mildly, "Really, child, you must learn to relax.You'll make yourself an old man and skip all life as it runs by you."

Shojinya looked at her from the corner of his eyes as he stared off into the dark woods.Then deciding the danger, if there was any, was past, he turned to look at the priestess respectfully, "Kaede-sama, if I be lax for e'en one moment, it can be doom for us all.'Tis not possible to be having fun for one such as I for the safety of the village must always be first.That is why we must find that woman before we all be killed!"

Kaede went back to staring down the path and clucked her tongue, "Shojinya-chan, be not blinded by duty so much so that you have already cast Saotome-san's soul to the demons.And it is a noble cause to be defending the village, but do not let your sight be so narrowed to that one act that you miss the obvious."

"Wh-what be ye meaning, Kaede-sama?"

She gave a sigh, "You twitch at the slightest sound, boy!What dangers be there in the forest, except birds and squirrels?If there be wolves roaming the forest, let them roam, they've certainly done us no harm.Saotome-kun and Saotome-san have done us no harm, we can not judge them for what we believe they might be."

"But Kaede-sama, if they be spies—"

"Pish-posh.If they were spies, they wouldn't show themselves so obviously."

"What if it be a trick?!"

"Then why let us capture one of them so easily?" Kaede stopped and gave Shojinya the full force of her stare."Boy, sometimes the truth is as easy as it really seems."

Shojinya searched her eyes a long while.Then he spoke again, hesitatingly, "But Kaede-sama . . . earlier, you said . . . it be possible for Saotome-kun to be a threat."

Kaede turned and resumed walking, "Possible, Shojinya-kun, possible."

Shojinya stood there staring at the spot Kaede had just vacated, "Then . . . you believe Saotome-kun be not a threat."

Kaede didn't miss a step, "I didn't say that either."

"THEN WHAT BE YE SAYING?!" Shojinya immediately took a step back, a look of horror crossing his face.He quickly bowed and spoke rapidly, "I apologize, milady.I did nae mean to yell."

"Quite alright," she stopped a moment to look back at him, "if you'll keep following me, I'll explain it to you."

Shojinya nodded once, straightened and hurried up the path to join the elder priestess.They resumed their quick but leisurely pace.

"Why don't you tell me why you think they are spies, Shojinya-kun?"

"Huh?But I be thinking ye would to tell me why Saotome-san be not spies, Kaede-sama."

Kaede gave a soft sigh, "It is good that you ask questions, but only if they are the right ones.Just do as I say for now."

"Aye."Shojinya scrunched his face up as he thought his answer over carefully, "Well, I be suspectin' them from the start.They be strangers from nowhere and having tho' look o'warriors.Even Saotome-san looked like she be able to fight.Then Saotome-san disappeared and Saotome-kun threatened to hurt us."Shojinya looked at Kaede with an innocent look, "Saotome-kun may be a diversion, and Saotome-san be spying on us as we be dealing wit'im."

Kaede turned offthe path and into the woods, deftly dodging brush and low hanging branches alike."Ah, but they have lost their advantage, have they not?"

Shojinya spent a few minutes in silence as he nimbly moved through the thick undergrowth.Moving as silently as he could as the foliage brushed his body with their leafy emerald shroud, realization suddenly dawned on him."I-I see, Kaede-sama."

"Mm-hmm," she gave a perfunctory nod, "And if they wanted to kill us, Saotome-kun would not have to wait before attacking.I doubt any of us in the village would be able to stop him if he truly wanted to hurt us."She cast a sharp glance at Shojinya, "But we can't be too lenient.He can still be a threat."

Chastened, but wiser, Shojinya gave a nod to convey his understanding and retreated into silence to mull his actions over.

Kaede gave a small, proud smile.

It quickly disappeared when she heard the sound of a battle nearby. . . .

"Don't move!"

Ranma sighed and put his hands up slowly in the universal gesture of surrender.He saw a younger girl with a bow and an arrow pointed directly at him.Her sailor outfit brightened his mood a bit as he thought that there was finally someone who had caught up with the times.But then he looked into her eyes, and he gulped as those blue orbs glared daggers into his, and a shudder ran down his back as he thought of another girl with short blue-black hair and her blasted mallet.

"Wahhhh!INU-YASHA!What did you do to him?!"

CHOMP!

"Aggghhhhhhhhh!"The pig-tailed martial artist ripped the small, brown, sharp-toothed parasite from his leg.It looked up at him with large, tear-filled eyes and tried to claw his face."WOAH!"Ranma threw the offending creature away.Only when it had hit a nearby tree with a soft thump, did Ranma realize it had been a child.

"Shippo!Alright, that's it!Ya!"Kagome loosed the arrow she had nocked.She gasped in surprise when the pig-tailed youth before her dodged the arrow, then suddenly appeared _right in front of her_!"Uh . . ."

"Don't you know someone could get hurt, little girl!Stop playing around and gimme that!"

Kagome only stared in surprise as her bow was easily swiped from her hand and thrown off into the darkness of the forest.Then the pig-tailed youth went in the direction where Shippo had fallen.

He had been so _fast_!Like Inu-Yasha.Kagome stared at his retreating back for a moment before his words finally registered.

'_Little girl?!Playing around?!_'

Her irritation made her words sharp, "Hey!What do you think you're doing?!"She ran past him and stood in front of Shippo, spreading her arms wide.When the youth stopped and just stared at her for a moment, her irritation melted away like an ice cube sitting out on the asphalt on a hot summer day, and fear crept in as she demanded much quieter, "Wh-what did you do to Inu-Yasha?"Her eyes flicked to the half-human youkai's prone form.She held a small breath until she saw his chest rise imperceptibly.

Ranma just stared at her a moment longer.Then he held his hands up, "Just trust me.I'm not going to hurt you or that kid.I was just gonna check on the little guy," he indicated Inu-Yasha's unconscious body with a toss of his head, "That other guy, Inu-Yasha, was it?Well, he and I kinda got into a fight, but I don't think he's too bad off."

As if answering his summons, Inu-Yasha twitched with a groan and fluttered golden eyes open.He stilled quickly and searched his surrounding area carefully.His eyes widened when he saw the unconscious form of Shippo and Kagome standing in front of him with her arms outstretched, and that damn arrogant human _boy_ just in front of Kagome.

Inu-Yasha pushed himself up painfully and tried to rush to Kagome's side.He fell to one knee and shouted a warning instead, "Kagome!Watch out!He's not entirely human!"

"What?"Kagome backed up and grabbed Shippo.Cradling him gently, she ran to Inu-Yasha's side and stared fearfully at the pig-tailed boy in front of her.

"WHAT?!"Ranma waved his arms frantically, "Woah, woah, woah, wait.Back up, time out!"He raised a finger to his nose, "Me?Not human?Kid, I think you should take a look at a mirror sometime, cause I sure ain't the one who looks like his father was a mutt!"

"SHUT UP!My father wasn't a mutt!He was a dog!A dog!"

Ranma scratched his chin, looking at Inu-Yasha like he'd just announced that the world was flat, "Right.Oo-kay. . . If you want to put it _that_ way, instead."

"Aaarrrrggghhhh!I didn't mean it like that!!"Inu-Yasha fisted one hand ready to spring at the nonchalant human.

"Look," Ranma's demeanor became serious again, "why don't you just stay down?You're not strong enough right now to go for another round and I don't feel like fighting."

"HA!" Inu-Yasha smirked triumphantly, "You're just afraid you'll—"

"Inu-Yasha!"PAP! 

"Erk!"The ghost-haired boy keeled over with an expression of pain and surprise.Kagome stood over him, glaring slightly, and again Ranma had to suppress a shiver as he imagined that same warning frown on the face of a certain uncute girl.

"He doesn't want to fight, idiot!"She then turned to Ranma and bowed, "I'm sorry about what I did earlier."She straightened and smiled at the pig-tailed youth.'I guess he's not all that bad if he doesn't want to truly kill Inu-Yasha.He was even worried about Shippo.Although, if what Inu-Yasha said is true about him not being entirely human, I can't let my guard down either!'

"My name is Kagome.Higuraishi Kagome.And this is Shippo.You've obviously met Inu-Yasha."

"I'm Ranma.Saotome Ranma,"Ranma hesitated and looked at Shippo with concern, "Hey, is he alright?I didn't mean to hit him that hard.I didn't even know he was a kid."

"Um. . . ." Kagome looked down at the unconscious kitsune in her arms, "I don't know.Let's get back to the village.We'll see if Kaede-sama can help him.And Inu-Yasha, too."

"Okay," Ranma walked up to Inu-Yasha and crouched down, "So, are you gonna walk, or am I gonna have to pound you unconscious again to carry you?"

Inu-Yasha glared at obnoxious human, then struggled to his feet and began following Kagome."Feh.Don't think I'll go easy on you, human, once I've recovered."

"I'll be waiting."Ranma smirked.

"Kaede-sama!"Up ahead, Kagome ran to meet up with a person coming from the village.

"Eh?Kagome-chan?What are you doing here?"Behind the elder priestess, Shojinya gasped and unslung his bow, nocking it faster than a heartbeat.

"I _knew_ it!Saotome-san be a spy!"

Ranma groaned, "Not _this_ again."

"Um, Maya . . . Are you sure you know where we're going."

The little girl turned with a huge grin, "Yup!We're going to the well!"

"Aren't we . . . Aren't we kind of _far_ from the village?"Akane glanced back the way they'd come with uneasiness as a feeling of being watched washed over her.

"Uh-huh!But Kagome-sama come here all the time!"Maya zipped through a patch of thick brambles with childish enthusiasm.Akane stopped at the edges looked to the left and right, searching for another route.Maya stopped and turned around."C'mon!"With that she took off into the gloom of the forest.

"Hey, wait!"Akane sighed, then leapt to an overhanging treebranch, then jumped down to the other side from there.

"Wow!"Maya's sudden appearance made Akane gasp and leap back in surprise."Can you do that again?!"

Laughing shyly, Akane shook her head, "No.We should get going."

"Awww," disappointed, but still full of enthusiasm, Maya continued leading the way to the old well.

"Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"Who's Kagome?"

"She's our priestess.I like her lots!"

"Your priestess?"

"Yeah!We have two priestess!Kagome-sama and Kaede-sama!"Maya's happy chatter dimmed slightly, "But, now she's looking for Shikon Jewel, so Okaasan says I have to try no't'be a bother to her," she brightened again, "But that's okay, 'cause we still have fun!"

"Heh-heh-heh-heh.S-s-s-shikon Jewel?Tell me, child, where isss it?"

Akane gasped as the disembodied voice floated all around them.She gathered Maya behind her and backed up against a tree, her eyes constantly searching surrounding area.

"Who are you?"

"Tell me where your priesssstesssss isssss."

"Come out and show yourself first!"Akane bent her knees in a defensive posture and let her senses spread out.She felt the small terrified form of Maya behind her.The soft shifting of the wind brushed her cheek slightly and brought the smell of damp leaves and moldy undergrowth.She listened as Maya tried to stay as quiet as possible, but unable to control her small trembles.Akane wanted to gather her up and soothe her, but the danger did not allow that small luxury.Then a soft rustle to her right.Something not quite right in this forest of small, furry or feathered animals.Something like scales brushing against dead leaves.

Akane tensed, "Come out!I know where you are!"

The soft, barely perceptible rustle stopped, then the brush shivered and a form emerged.

Akane gasped.She gathered Maya close to her side and backed away.Her knees quivered slightly in fear, but that was nothing compared to Maya's terror.The little girl gave a soft cry before stifling it with folds of Akane's dress.Her heart beat a wild staccato and the breath stopped in her throat, forcing a strange lump to lodge there.But still she couldn't tear her eyes red stare of the huge serpentine demon before her.

"Heh-heh-heh.I am Jussssenkyo and I am your death."

Weeeeeeeellllllllll!Whaddya think?Good?Bad?So-so?Constructive criticism much needed.Editor needed even more, but I'll settle for good, _good_, criticism.Flames are understandable as there are juveniles out there and they can't express themselves any other way, but nice, _nice_, as in _constructive_ criticisms are very welcome!Thank-You!


	3. Akane and Serpents and Curses, Oh my!

dell dell 3 69 2001-10-05T19:27:00Z 2001-10-09T20:34:00Z 1 312 1783 UW Madison 14 3 2189 9.4402 Author's notes: Whew! This chapter took me so long because it was just one huge fight scene with not much of anything else. I'm sorry if people got tired of waiting and finally just gave up, but I hope I can get the next chapter out much sooner than this one took. And to all of the people who reviewed:

**Thank You! Thank You! Thank You So Much!**

Disclaimer: Right. No own. Takahashi do. Okay.

Journeys Through the Well

Akane and Serpents and Curses, Oh My!

"Ssssso tell me, where isss the priessstesss who guardsss the jewel? Then mayhapssss I sssshall eat you with no pain." 

The demon's eyes glowed an unearthly red and it let its jaw open to reveal a large mouth full of sharp teeth, with two incisors which curled over the creatures lower lips. Its long sinouous body curled among the undergrowth and disappeared into shadows. But what made its horror more terrifying than anything Akane had ever seen before, were the multitudes of long human limbs which sprouted all along its snake-like body. Each arm was a pale fleshy pink, with small scales that glinted in the sunlight like a dusting of sprinkles. But the finger were tipped with sharp black claws which left no doubt in Akane's mind that this demon could leave a gaping wound in a person. But the crowning of this grotesque show was the long pure black hair which flowed like silk and drapped coquetishly along the branches, and from which emitted some of the most horrifying screeches and cries ever heard. The reality seemed to warp and flow crazily around where strands of the hair rested.

Akane took a step back, her heart pounded loudly in her ears. Never had she seen anything more . . . demon-like. The foes she'd had to deal with up till Saffron had been human at least, even if they were Jusenkyo-cursed.

Then it finally clicked in her mind.

Jusenkyo!

She abandoned her idea of running away. Instead she pushed Maya away from her, whispering fiercely, "Maya! When I say go, I want you to run! Do you understand me? Run as fast as you can back to the village and get Ranma! Do you understand?!"

Swallowing the large lump in her throat Maya tried to speak, but a croak came out instead. So she buried her face against Akane's leg and nodded.

"Good," Akane gave the trembling girl a pat on her head and tried to hide her own nervousness. She swallowed several times to dispel the terror rising in her throat, "Okay. Then go!"

She gave the small girl a gentle shove and flared her aura as big as possible, temporarily hiding the escape of the little girl.

The demon hissed in surprise, but quickly recovered. It leaped at the dark silhouette in the center of the bright aura, stretching its jaws to the limit. It closed its mouth with a triumphant snap, but jerked back when it felt nothing between its teeth. Feeling its head suddenly rushing towards the ground, the snake-like demon jerked its body trying to throw the person off.

But Akane had already leapt off its head before the demon could react. She landed softly among the dry leaves which littered the forest floor and was promptly tripped as Jusenkyo whipped its long body under her legs. Rolling with the fall, Akane placed her hands on the ground on either side of her head and pushed off while kicking her legs at the same time. This caused her to flip back upright, but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she backflipped away. She heard the snap as the snake demon closed its jaws in the space she had occupied. 

Working on the momentum she had gained, Akane went into a series of flips and cartwheels until she had landed on the branch of a tall tree. She stumbled a bit before reaching out to steady herself on the trunk, then looked at the silent demon, who had stayed in its position the whole time, trying to guage how much power this human actually had.

They stood there for a moment. The demon confident in its ability to win, but unwilling to put to waste too much time and energy. The blue-haired human scared but determined to survive.

Akane clenched trembling fists and hoped the demon couldn't see how much her legs were shaking under her long dress. She knew she couldn't surprise the demon anymore, so she had to draw the fight out until Ranma came, or run and hoped it wasn't as fast as she was. Akane frowned. There weren't a lot of options, but she was a martial artist!

"WHAT?! You mean she hasn't returned yet?!"

Kasumi nodded, "Thats right, Ryoga. I havent seen her since this morning when she went out with Ranma in such a rush. I do wish they would hurry up back home, they will be so hungry by dinnertime."

"B-but, I just got back from Kyoto with tea cakes for Akane-san. . . ."

"Well I can put those in her room," smiling cheerfully, Kasumi gently accepted the gift from Ryoga's limp hand, "Don't worry, I'm sure she will be back before dinner time. In the meantime, you can stay here."

Ryogas expression immediately changed from streaming tears to teary eyes of gratitude. "Really? You mean that?!"

"Mm-hm." Kasumi smiled widely, glad she had made someone a little happier that day.

"THANK-YOU, KASUMI-SAN!"

"Quite alright. Just follow me to the living room." Kasumi looked at Ryoga's receding back, "Um, Ryoga-kun? This way."

Ryoga turned back with an embarrassed blush and followed the eldest Tendo daughter with only two more redirections to the living room.

Once again, the pig-tailed youth had his hands up in the air, wondering why these things always happened to him. He sighed and glanced to his left. He met the baleful glare of one ghost-haired dog-demon. So he looked over his shoulder, only to catch the distrustful brown orbs of one obnoxious village archer. Shojinya raised a dark brow and tightened his hold on the bow warningly. Ranma sighed silently again, then finally directed his attention to his right, finally managing to get a sympathetic smile in return. He gave a half-hearted attempt at a smile, trying to keep worry for one uncute tomboy from showing on his face, then glanced down at the snoring brown bundle in the younger priestess' arms. 

He leaned towards her, whispering, "Hey, is he alright?"

Kagome smiled fondly at Shippo's sleeping form. "I think he will be."

Inu-Yasha snorted from the other side, "I would think so. He's making enough noise to scare off every animal within the area."

Ranma shrugged and went back to mindlessly staring at the path in front of him, as the elder priestess, Kaede, led the way. From time to time, he could feel the strange demon boy's eyes on him, staring curiously. Finally, after a few minutes of this, Ranma turned to him, "What is it?"

Immediately, Inu-Yasha adopted a defensive position, one arm up and a large frown on his face, "What?"

"You were staring at me," Ranma looked down at the shorter boy with a neutral expression, taking note of the defensiveness the boy showed.

"So what?"

Shrugging again, Ranma went back to staring down the path.

"Well . . ." Inu-Yasha began hesitantly.

"Hm. . . ?"

"Well . . ." the ghost-haired youth turned away to look at the forest, finding a particular patch extremely intresting, "Well, I was just wondering. Are you human or demon?"

"Look," Ranma tilted his head upwards in frustration, "I already told you. I. Am. A. Human. Being."

"But you smell like a demon!"

Ranma sniffed experimenatally at himself. Well, he did smell a little musty from his morning jog, and he wasn't quite sure how a demon smelled exactly, but he was pretty sure he didn't smell like one!

"I think you're confused, dog-boy."

Inu-Yasha growled, "My nose does not lie!"

"I didn't say it did, and if that's all," Ranma went back to staring at Kaede's back to signify the end of the conversation.

"But you smell like a human too."

"Huh?"

"Did you give your soul to a demon lord for your powers?"

"No way! What the hell are you thinking?! That's so . . . that's so . . ." Ranma fumbled around for a word to describe his outrage, "cheap! Only a fool and a weakling would ever do anything like that!

"But you're so powerful!" Kagome exclaimed, "The only people I've seen with that kind of aura, were priests or priestesses or possessed people."

"Huh. Well I ain't no holy person, and I sure ain't possessed either."

Inu-Yasha was frowning heavily now, "So explain to me how you can be almost as fast as a demon?!"

"Practice."

". . . Is that it? Practice?"

"Yep." 

Inu-Yasha had a dumb-founded expression on his face. There was no way. No way! It was impossible! No mere human could practice becoming fast enough to compete with a demon! Even for those rare humans with large spirits, like Kagome and she was a priestess, it would take years before they could become even half as fast as he was himself. Inu-Yasha shook his head. This human couldn't have seen more than eighteen summers! It was impossible!

"I don't believe you. You stink of a demon and you have powers that are beyond normal. This can only mean a demon has enhanced or given you whatever skills you have."

"Are you saying I'm weak?" Ranma growled. 

The dog demon was smirking, "Whatever you say. . . ."

"I'll show you weak," Ranma brought up his fists ready to pound that annoying smirk away, but the sharp tip of an arrow against his cheek reminded him of his predicament.

"I be not doing that if I be ye." Shojinya glared down the length of the arrow at the pig-tailed youth. Ranma sighed and lowered his fists.

"Inu-Yasha! Don't make me . . ." Kagome threatened from the other side

The ghost-haired boy merely snorted, but he didn't say anymore.

They walked in tense silence until Inu-Yasha's ears perked imperceptively. Then he whipped around as the sounds of something came crashing through the underbrush.

At the sound of Ukyo's voice at the gate, the eldest Tendo daughter walked out into the courtyard from dusting the house down. She smiled cheerfully at the other girl's equally cheerful countenance and welcomed her in, "Hello Ukyo-san. I'm sorry but Ranma and Akane haven't come back yet."

At this bit of news, the long-haired chef frowned worriedly. The peace all day, except for the early morning routine, had been quite unnerving. There had been no reports of sudden outbreaks of fighting or incidents of unknown panty raids or explosions as property damage was racked up by super martial-artists. It was now getting on to the late afternoon and no one had seen neither Akane nor Ranma. Ranma, for sure, would have at least been home, or at the Nekohanten for lunch, since she hadn't seen him all day. She sincerely hoped it wasn't the latter or there would be hell to pay.

"Well, Kasumi-san, didn't he come back for lunch at all?"

"Why no," her eyes were large and innocent, "I thought maybe he'd eaten at your restaurant."

"Nooo," Ukyo twirled a lock of brown hair around her finger, then unconsciously rubbed the handle of her combat spatula. She smiled for the elder woman's benefit and gave a quick bow, "I'm sorry to have disturb you, Kasumi-san. I think I might know where he is."

"Are you leaving now? Wouldn't you like some tea first?"

"Thank-you, but I really must be going. Thanks again for your help." She waved and would have kept walking if she hadn't bumped into a wall of muscled chest. She bounced back with a small gasp, steadying herself with her weapon before glaring at the clumsy oaf.

"Watch it!" she snapped. She blinked in surprise when she saw who it was, "Ryoga?"

"Ukyo! Oh good!" he sighed with relief. "I caught you in time. Maybe I could come with you?"

She glared at him suspiciously, "Why? You're not going to start a fight with Ran-chan are you?"

"Why not?! That no-good cross-dressing pervert deserves it! I oughtta pound him on principle!

NotthatIwill!" he added hastily when he caught the murderous glint in the chef's brown eyes.

Narrowing her eyes, Ukyo considered bopping him for a moment longer, then deciding that the fanged boy was too heavy to drag around, she relaxed her grip on the handle of the giant spatula. She gave a small sniff and nodded her head stiffly, then started down the street. Ryoga bowed and thanked Kasumi quickly before continuing down the street also. In the opposite direction.

There was a cloud of dust as the brown-haired chef rushed by Kasumi and whapped the lost boy on head with her spatula.

CLANG! "IDIOT! THIS WAY! THIS WAY!" They came by the bemused Tendo daughter again. This time with Ukyo dragging the dizzy Ryoga.

Inu-Yasha crouched low for a moment, then disappeared into the underbrush suddenly. There was a bit of rustling then a loud shout and another higher-pitched crying. The rest of the group waited tensely. Kaede and Shojinya had drawn their bows, and Kagome, burdened with Shippo's sleeping form, had to back away to stay as far away from the battle as possible. Ranma dropped into a defensive stance, his eyes scanning the surrounding forest for anything which would be out of place and straining for any more sounds from the underbrush.

After a few moments there was a rustling and Inu-Yasha stepped out carrying a bundle under his arm. He looked disgruntled and his hair was slightly out of place. The bundle began emitting high-pitched screeches which had Inu-Yasha's sensitive ears ringing. He held the struggling bundle out at arm's length and looked to Kagome for help. The rest of the group looked at the half-demon in varying degrees of amusement and confusion, none of them trying to help.

"Quiet!" he snapped at the crying bundle, ears ringing and unsure of what to do. Unfortunately this only caused the child to cry even harder.

"Maya?" Shojinya finally spoke up.

The little girl turned towards the sound of the voice, her teary eyes widening, "Oniichan! Oniichan!" She reached desparately out for the elder boy and Inu-Yasha gratefully handed her over.

Shojinya hugged the small child protectively, soothing her with hushed whispers, but she kept crying and hiccuping uncontrollably.

"Maya? Maya, what happened?"

After a few minutes of halting speech interspersed with sobs, the group managed to get the full story out of the hyterical girl. Ranma wasted no time. He ran from the group ignoring the shouts and warnings they sent his way. Fast on his heels, Inu-Yasha also came along and Ranma scowled, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Feh! You think I'll let some evil demon get by me without a proper beating?" He glared at the martial artist, "And do you think I'll trust _you_ not to run off?"

"Fine! Just don't get in my way when I'm beating the thing up."

"Human, I think it is _you_ who should stay out of my way."

Jusenkyo hissed and gave a small twitch. A prickling on the back of her neck galvanized Akane into action.

She leapt straight up and let the snake demon's tail pass underneath her before she stomped on it. Hard. 

The demon gave a shriek of pain and thrashed wildly for a moment, knocking Akane off its tail. 

Akane just held her hands over her ears. That shriek had hurt. She looked up slowly as the ringing in her head subsided, but had to leap away quickly when a section of the demons body came at her with the arms grasping and clawing.

"Vile thing!" Jusenkyo leapt over her head only to bring its body slamming down on the nearly deaf Akane, who made a desparate leap to the right, then suddenly to the left when she found her way blocked by another section of the demons body. There was sudden shooting pain in her left arm and Akane looked down to find long bloody gashes along her forearm, the sleeves hanging off in tatters. During that brief moment of distraction, another arm grabbed her dress and tugged like a fisherman reeling in the catch.

"Ungh!" Akane tried to push the arms away, but they just dug into her flesh lacerating her arms and then latching onto various parts of her clothes. She was pulled and shoved until they'd had her immobilised against the dry, cold body. Akane couldn't control her trembling as Jusenkyo slowly bobbed its head before her, considering the strange human girl who had managed to injure it. 

"Wench, be happy you are being eaten. I could give you a far worssssse fate." It opened its jaws wide and gave a little hiss. When the short-haired girl gave a little scream and whipped her head away, it chuckled with delight. The pain had been worth the expression of terror and pain on the human's face. Jusenkyo flicked its tongue several times, smelling the rich scent of freshly spilled human blood, and incidently, flicked at Akane's face with the slippery tongue. She began trembling even more. 

She whimpered as she felt those dry slithering hands grasp or brush against her bare skin. She could do nothing else but think of how horribly dead the body felt against her back, and how she wanted nothing more than to shut her eyes and curl up. But as Jusenkyo moved in even closer to enjoy the torture it was giving, Akane's terror finally snapped. Tense muscle which had been unwilling to obey her desparate pleas to move suddenly relaxed and Jusenkyo was left to support the full weight of Akane's limp body. 

The demon pulled back sharply and was taken completely off-guard. 

"WHY YOOOUUU . . ." Akanes enraged scream made the serpentine demon jerk back in surprise, then it jerked back some more as Akane braced against its body and pulled forward.

It took a moment for the demon to register that its prey was trying to escape. It blinked, then blinked again for good measure. Then it smiled. "Heh-heh. Foolissssh human. Do you think you can esssscape me? For that, I, Jussssenkyo, sssshall punissssh you sssseverely!"

"I," Tug, "Don't," Wrench, "Think," SCHLAP! "SO!!!" There was a sickening sound of tearing flesh followed by a moment of silence.

An unholy shriek of pain and anger ripped through the silent forest. It made the trees shake in what could have passed as fear and had previously hidden woodland creatures scuttling out of hiding to run in terror. Akane landed on the ground with a painful thump, then curled into a fetal position, trying to lessen the pain in her ears. 

"YOU!" The demon came at her with incredible speed, jaws wide and red eyes glowing with fury and pain. Its hair whipped back in tangles and it reached two arms out, anticipating the soft flesh of this despicable human. 

The demon flew at her for an unbearably long time. Its grimacing visage filled Akane's vision, its horror could not be told. The pale skin stretched too tight over the skull, causing deep shadows under the cheekbones and left the eyeballs to pop out grotesquely. She could only stare, eyes wide with fright and look up at scarlet eyes. Eyes that pierced her soul and stole her breath so that she couldn't even utter a small scream. Akane sat there frozen, breathless, and unable to even look away from her terrible, inevitable death.

"BASTARD! GET AWAY FROM HER!" 

A blur slammed into the demon's head, knocking it away. Its head flew to the side and its body followed, crashing hard into the trees.

"Akane? Akane?!"

Akane stared up wonderingly at the pig-tailed youth, "R-Ranma?" She grabbed the surprised youth in a bone crunching hug, "Oh, Ranma! I was so scared!" She began to tremble as the fear kept coursing through her and the stress finally caught up. "It's horrible. Th-the thing! What is it? _What is it?_" Ranma said nothing as she trailed off into panting. "Kami-sama, it's horrible! It wanted to eat us and then it wanted the priestess, but I . . . but I . . ." He didn't know what to say or what to do. They crouched there for a moment, Ranma giving neither encouragement nor rejection; Akane quickly pulling herself together with prideful determination. She kept her face lowered against his shoulder, trying to calm her trembling arms, trying to show her jerk of a fiancé that she wasn't weak, but the shaking wouldn't stop. The acrid smell of the demon's breath still fumed into her face and she wanted to hold onto anyone, anything that was alive. Right now she wanted warmth to take away the memory of the dry, dead body.

She took one more deep breath, inhaling the subtle scent of Ranma, then pushed away to face the demon again, not him a chance to see her face. 

"Akane. . . ."

"I'm fine," she took another steadying breath, "I'm fine."

He nodded curtly, noticing the demon begin to rise, "Okay, stay back. Let me handle this, Akane."

"No. I'm a martial artist too . . ."

"Akane, don't be so stubborn!"

". . . and I need to beat it, Ranma," she looked over her shoulder at the pig-tailed youth. Her eyes were unreadable, "It's evil, Ranma. I _have_ to beat it because it is the duty of a martial artist and because I can't let it hurt Maya." Her eyes hardened with determination, "I'll admit I can't defeat it alone, but don't make me leave the fight. It threatened Maya and I can't forgive that!"

"Akane—"

There was a soft shish as metal cleared a scabbard and a voice intruded, "I don't care how much you two want to fight. You should get back to the others and let me take care of this. Humans have no business in a demon battle."

The two humans looked at Inu-Yasha's rusty katana skeptically. Akane spoke up before Ranma could respond, "Um, I don't think that's going to be much help against something like this."

The half-demon boy smirked, "Just get back, human."

"No way!" two voices chorused. They glanced at each other briefly, then turned back to the ghost-haired youth, "I'm a martial artist, I'm fighting, too!"

They faced each other again to bristle a bit, but didn't get a chance to launch into another argument as the demon drew itself up to tower over the three.

"Impudent mongrelssss! I ssshall kill you ssslowly!"

"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" Again two voices chorused and Ranma and Inu-Yasha glared at each other before turning their attention back to the multi-limbed demon.

It opened its mouth. Everyone dropped into defensive positions, tensely awaiting the attack.

"Will you get out of here, Akane?!"

"No!"

A sphere of watery light slowly exited the serpent's mouth and hovered for a moment before its face. The three youths pulled their defenses in tighter, adrenaline pumping their hearts to more than a hundred beats per minute. Then the sphere broke apart with a brilliant flash like a supernova and bright pinpoints of light shot at the three combatants. Momentarily blinded, all three youths had to rely solely on their other senses. For a few seconds, hearing and the sense of shifting winds against their skin became the critical senses to dodge the various projectiles.

Ranma and Akane leapt back, while trying to dodge the knife-sharp pellets crazily. Inu-Yasha held his ground. Bringing his rusted katana up in a wide arc, he felt the transformation as a surge of energy jolting his hand and shooting through his body. The radiant gleam of the fang sliced through the projectiles, causing a sharp artificial wind to cut through towards the exposed head of the demon. 

Jusenkyo hissed, but ducked underneath the cutting attack to charge rapidly towards Inu-Yasha, who held the fang before him, awaiting the demon's charge. The half-demon smirked, "You are too predictable, demon."

"Am I?" 

"Eh?"

Jusenkyo suddenly jerked to the side, heading straight for Ranma. Inu-Yasha growled, leaping after the head, "Your fight is with me!"

A force slammed into his stomach like a boulder had been thrown at him. The breath was driven from his body and it was only a nearby, friendly tree that stopped his sliding rush away from the battle. He crunched into the tree painfully and it was only his demon heritage that saved him from slipping into unconsciousness. Lying there for a moment, he tried desperately to breath, but it seemed like his lungs would not draw in air. He sucked desparately like a fish on land, but nothing happened. Finally, after an eternity, he was able to gasp and clutch his side as he struggled to one knee. He blearily stared down at his wet clothes and wondered what kind of attack it had been for him to be unable to see or detect it. 

Meanwhile, Ranma leapt over the demon's oncoming charge, intending to stomp it into the ground, but it reared up quickly, catching him in a vise-like grip with its first four arms. Blood ran down his arms from the black nails that dug into his flesh and Jusenkyo opened its mouth intending to bite off this human's head. 

"I don't think so!" Ranma braced both legs against the serpent, then kicked the jaw approaching him rapidly. He heard a satisfying snap as the demon's head was thrown back and its grip loosened. Using the demon's arms to push off, he grabbed the head and twisted so that he could come back around and deliver a good kick against the demon's back. "Katsu Tenshin Amaguriken revised! (Chestnuts Flying from an Open Fire)"

"Look out!" Ranma glanced over his shoulder instinctively. A section of the demon's body flew at him, the arms ready to gouge out pieces of his tender flesh, but a blur crashed into it, driving the threat away from the martial artist.

"Akane!" Ranma let go off the head and sprang away, but not before delivering another hard kick that incidently helped him spring away. He joined the female martial artist on the ground, standing protectively before her, "I thought I told you to get out of here!"

"And I thought I told you, NO!"

"Will you shut up and listen to me for once?!" Exasperation made his voice sharp, and he flinched when he felt the cold flow of air on his back from Akane's aura.

But when she spoke, her voice was eerily calm, "No."

There was no more room for conversation when the serpent shot at them with insane speed, looking only slightly injured from Ranma's treatment. Ranma dodged. He'd intended to rebound off a tree and deliver another lightning kick along with a few chops for good measure, but a glance in his fiancee's direction had his heartrate going up. Landing on the ground instead, he braced himself against the ground, trying to stop long enough to change directions and save the stupid tomboy before she got herself hurt. He cursed as he finally slid to a halt and sprang for the blue-haired girl, desparate to reach her before the demon could gobble her up. But Akane was glowing a brilliant blue and there was the determined, almost stubborn look, in her eye that signaled that she would not be swayed. 

Her arms swept up into the air in a very familiar action. Ranma cursed mentally, not wasting breath to tell his fiancée that it was pointless. She waited until the demon was right before her, before bringing her arms down with all the force she could muster. The brightly glowing mallet in her hands smashed into the demon's skull, slowing it down significantly, but unfortunately, not enough to actually stop the monster's momentum. Jusenkyo slammed into Akane with the force of a freight train. She was thrown back a few meters before crashing into a tree. Her limp body slid down slowly and didn't move.

"AKANE!" Ranma tried to dash to his unconscious fiancée, but the demon rose shakily. It held its head dizzily, but was, by no means, out of the fight yet.

"Desssspicable woman! I ssshall kill you!" With that it turned towards Akane's unconscious body, the strange hair seeming to move ahead in anticipation.

"STOP!" Ranma ran towards the demon, but the several arms seemed to wave sharply and a cold force slammed into him. Ranma flew back, skidding to a halt several meters away. He gasped, then finding that he couldn't draw any breath, started panting shallowly. When he'd caught his breath, he looked down at his soaked form, to find two prominent features sticking out from his chest.

Jusenkyo continued towards Akane, the black wisps of hair curling and reaching eagarly for her form. The cries and wails almost seemed to sing with satisfaction as they touched her still form, their song a subtly grotesque imitation of the happiness. Sick, corrupted happiness. They wrapped the female martial artist up lovingly in their murky strands, making her shiver and moan unconsciously. With the horrible strands swirling around her head, Akane finally disappeared beneath the midnight darkness.

"NOO!" 

Before the Ranma could do anything, there was a large flash from the other side of the demon. Junsenkyo shrieked. The very air seemed to shimmer and the trees shook as if quaking in terror. Ranma covered his ears. The pain was unbelievable! It felt like a nail was being pounded into his head!

From the other side, Inu-Yasha fell down, his sensitive ears amplifying the sound to an excruciating level. His sword fell slowly from his limp hands as the shriek continued. The serpentine demon stared maliciously at Inu-Yasha as it continued the painful sound. Black ichor dribbled excessively from the stumps of its right side, but already the large wound was healing over and as it did, the screech died out. It jerked its head and something flew from its mass of writhing hair. 

"AKANE!" Ranma rushed to the dark lump. 

Inu-Yasha shook his head dizzily, wondering when Kagome would stop telling him to "Sit!". He struggled to one knee, blindly searching for his sword, cursing the unceasing ringing in his head and the bluriness of his vision. He felt something coming at him then and rolled out of the way desperately. A moment later the large body of Jusenkyo came flying by at incredible speed. Inu-Yasha rushed to his fallen sword. He had to reach twice for the three blades, which kept moving crazily before him, before he managed to get the right one. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to rid himself of the ringing and the bluriness in his eyes. Just as the ringing in his head cleared, he heared the soft twang of three arrows being released, then the sharp whistle as the arrows flew through the air to thunk into their target solidly. Jusenkyo hissed and shook Ranma off briefly to stare at the newcomers. It stared down the flinty point of three nocked arrows.

"Stay where you are, or we'll shoot!"

It paused a moment, then spat furiously, "Puny humansss. I wassss sssssurprisssed, but I won't make the ssssame missstake again!" With that it turned and rushed off.

"MONSTER!" Inu-Yasha made as if to go after him, "I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!" but Kagome walked up to the dog-eared boy and papped his shoulder strongly. He keeled over easily.

"Idiot. You just had _two_ fights today! At least recover!" She shook her head and glanced over at Ranma. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry, miss, to have gotten you involved." When the red-head didn't answer, only continued to stare at something on the ground, Kagome walked over. When she saw the form, she gasped softly, "Is that . . . is that a dragon?!"

"No," the red-head replied, she looked up at Kagome with familiar blue eyes, "I think that's Akane. . . ." 


End file.
